A Navy officer had the nerve to protest the National Anthem in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick, and she did it at Pearl Harbor, of all places.
Fox News reports:
The U.S. Navy has launched an investigation into the case of a sailor who didn’t salute as the National Anthem played during a recent morning flag-raising at Pearl Harbor, an official said Tuesday. U.S. Pacific Fleet spokesman Senior Chief Petty Officer Joel Cesar said it’s up to the sailor’s commander whether she faces any punishment for failing to salute the flag on Sept. 19.
The sailor under investigation is Petty Officer 2nd Class Janaye Ervin, an intelligence specialist in the Navy Reserve. She was recently in Hawaii for about two weeks for an exercise. She’s assigned to the Navy Operational Support Center at North Island, Calif. Ervin had explained her actions in a since-deleted Facebook book.
“I feel like a hypocrite singing about the ‘land of the free’ when I know that only applies to some Americans,” she wrote. “I will gladly stand again, when ALL AMERICANS are afforded the same freedom.”
Wow.
There are consequences for this protest, should the Navy choose to enforce its own rules:
The Navy’s protocol handbook says sailors in uniform must salute during the anthem. They must also face the flag, or if a flag is not visible, sailors are required to face the direction of the music. Troops who don’t stand for the National Anthem could face prosecution under the Navy’s Uniform Code of Military Justice for violating Article 92, which says that troops can be punished for failing to obey a lawful general order.
This woman should be demoted and punished. This isn’t a daycare. It’s not a liberal arts college campus. When you join the military, you don’t get the luxury of following some orders and not others. You don’t get to decide what responsibilities and commitments are important, and which aren’t.
Discipline and respect for the protocols of the U.S. military can often be the difference between life and death.
Not only is Janaye Ervin’s protest ignorant, it sets a reckless precedent for the entire military. The Navy needs to remind service members that disobeying orders has consequences.
